Sunday, July 14, 2013

14 July 2013 Truth, justice, and the American way



Cassi Creek:  The Zimmerman trial has resulted in a jury determination of “not guilty.”  I can safely assume that Gloria and I are the only people in the valley who would disagree with this verdict.  There is a decided racist component to life in rural TN. 
          Truth in this matter is sketchy.  A 17-year-old black male was shot to death by a white/Hispanic male who wanted to be a police officer and was rejected.  Instead, he became a neighborhood watchman, playing at being a police officer.  The watchman suffered a broken nose and two very minor, if bloody, abrasions to his scalp.  The 17 year old died of a single bullet through his heart. 
          Justice was served when the jury weighed the evidence and handed down their verdict.  There was never any guarantee that the result would be other than “not guilty.”  The Prosecution offered mostly conjecture and broken witnesses including an apparently incompetent associate medical examiner.   We do not have to agree with the jury’s decision in order for justice to be served; we merely have to assure that the process is allowed to play out according to the applicable laws. 
          The American way is what we saw during endless television overkill.  The practice of trying a case publically needs to be reviewed and modified so that the media coverage does not poison the jury pool.  We need to find some means to assure that legal representation is the best available for all who are charged with crimes.  We certainly need to distance ourselves from the type of funding seen in the Zimmerman case; there should never have been 2nd amendment solicitations to defend Zimmerman.  Neither should we have someone like Nancy Grace poisoning juries before they are ever selected.
          Now we wait to see how much civil unrest there will be


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